Judging Chair Knighted in New Year’s Honours

Congratulations to our judging panel chair, Sir Ken Olisa OBE, who was knighted for services to business and philanthropy in the 2018 New Year’s Honour’s list. Ken is the Founder and Chairman of Restoration Partners, the boutique technology merchant bank. A long-time advocate of social mobility, he chaired our judging panel in 2017 and we are delighted to see him return for the 2018 UK Social Mobility Awards.

He says: “As the only child growing up in a single parent family in one of Nottingham’s poorer districts I have seen deprivation at first hand. As the beneficiary of a great State education and the unconditional kindness of hundreds of strangers I have experienced the opportunities of life in Britain. As Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant in the nation’s largest county and now a Knight of the Realm I hope I have demonstrated that social mobility is a reality in our country. Now it is incumbent on all of us who have benefited from that reality to make it work for everyone else. And the Social Mobility Awards are a brilliant way of making that happen.”

We would also like to congratulate judging panel member Althea Efunshile, who was appointed to the Channel 4 board in December last year.

“Access to advantage” is as uneven as ever- evidence suggests social mobility has declined in recent decades. If your institution is attempting to advance #socialmobility, enter our ‘School/College of the Year’ or ‘University of the Year’ categories.
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